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ListenUp NHT: NHT's 75W M-00 powered two-way studio monitor has long been an audiophile favorite for the title of "best computer loudspeaker"—not that the competition has been all that fierce. The Benicia, CA–based loudspeaker manufacturer recognized that the powered monitor, initially marketed direct to recording engineers and in-home studio owners, was selling beyond its target audience and repositioned it as part of its PC Hi-Fi line. When Walt Stinson, co-founder of Colorado-based Audio/Video chain ListenUp discovered the M-00s when he was searching for something to pair with his portable…
On Tuesday, April 17, 2001, New York said farewell to John Lewis in a memorial ceremony at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Over 5000 New Yorkers from all walks of life attended, but the most visibly represented community was the musicians.
I arrived early and took a seat about a third of the way back from the nave—everything closer was already occupied. The first person I saw was Ken Burns, now part of the jazz community, and then I realized that the elegant woman in the row in front of me was Maya Angelou. Lou Tabackin stood next to me for a while, talking to Percy and Albert…
See update at end of article. iTunes continues to grow and Napster has been reborn, but these last few months have been a bumpy ride for MP3.com. The music site, known for its large online music library featuring unsigned independent artists, was purchased on December 14 by San Francisco-based CNET.
CNET announced it will scrub MP3.com's servers of all content at midnight December 2, stranding an estimated 250,000 independent recording artists and 40 million subscribers worldwide. The popular website was launched by Michael Robertson in 1997 and by the year 2000 had reached its peak with 1.…
Electronics retailers may be bouncing back from a long slump, according to a couple of recent reports.
On March 4, Best Buy Company, Inc. noted a 21% increase in revenue for the fourth fiscal quarter, ended February 28. The Minneapolis-based electronics retailer, the largest in North America, reported revenue from continuing operations at $8.44 billion for the fiscal 2004 fourth quarter, compared to revenue of $6.99 billion for the fiscal 2003 fourth quarter, ended March 1, 2003. Sales at comparable stores were up 9.7% for the quarter.
The large increase in revenue was due in part to…
Last week, USA Digital Radio, a developer of In-Band On-Channel Digital Audio Broadcast (IBOC DAB) technology, announced an "aggressive" field-test campaign at 12 radio stations across the country. The company will be conducting the digital tests under experimental licenses issued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). With most equipment already installed, according to USA Digital Radio, test efforts are currently underway at several stations.
IBOC DAB is a broadcasting technology that uses the current radio spectrum to transmit existing AM and FM analog simultaneously with new…
On March 17, Recoton Corporation announced that it has licensed the NHT brand name to Vergence Technology, Inc. NHT is a name known among audiophiles for its line of loudspeaker products for home audio. Vergence intends to utilize the NHT brand name on its new line of products designed specifically for the pro audio and professional home music markets. Planning for this marketing agreement has been in development for many months with Vergence Technology's Chris Byrne and Ken Kantor, who were also the founders of NHT.
Robert L. Borchardt, Recoton Corporation's President and CEO, stated…
Our first new archive article this week is "Building a Library: The Grateful Dead," in which past AES chairperson Elizabeth Cohen reveals her thoughts about what the band has meant to a musical generation. Also included is a complete Dead discography, lots of lyrics, and a little history.
Next, Jack English goes through all the basics of setting up your equipment for maximum pleasure in "Tweaks'n'Squeaks." Everything is covered: from unpacking those new boxes, placing the products, and hooking them up correctly, to cleaning and maintaining the system to keep it in top form.
In "…
Rarely does a day pass when Wes Phillips doesn't send his pals a bunch of emails with links to stuff he's found while Web surfing. Frequently it is audio-related, but even when it's not, there's usually something there worth checking out.
So it seemed a natural to turn him loose on you, the Stereophile reader. Check out his blog, where he'll post the highlights of what he finds, when he finds it. Looks to me like he's not going to say much with each post (he doesn't in his emails), but as they say, a link is worth a thousand words.
Also new on the website this week is the Audiophile…
Michael Fremer wraps his ears around the Westlake Audio Lc5.75F loudspeaker in an effort to figure out "what's a pro audio company doing at CES?" Fremer discovers why a brand that, until recently, was rarely heard outside of recording studios is now selling 70% of its products to consumers.
As Barry Willis reports in his "As We See It" from November, The Search for Musical Ecstasy, there are hobbies out there easily crazier than high-end audio. Don't believe it? Willis does some comparison shopping.
Also from the November issue, we present John Marks' The Fifth Element #5. Marks…
There are a myriad surefire ways to get audiophiles riled. Just bring up $350,000 tube amps, iPods as serious audio devices, or SACD versus DVD-Audio versus DualDisc versus iTunes.
Or mention expensive audio cables that use deviant technology.
Much of the fervid debate about analog audio cables centers around whether or not different types of wire and shielding techniques do indeed sound different—especially if they cost a lot.
But Jim Wang of Harmonic Technology has found that what really makes a difference is eliminating the wire and its need for shielding altogether. His…